Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Holdings Lessened by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 260,165 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,381 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $47,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares in the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after buying an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 26,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,766,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 5,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The company’s fifty day moving average is $169.06 and its 200-day moving average is $165.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.